Clergywoman Pastor Toluwani Odukoya has confirmed that she is no longer in her marriage, describing the experience as one of the hardest seasons of her life.
Toluwani who is the Associate Senior Pastor of The Fountain of Life Church, revealed this while speaking in an interview with the podcast of the church: “Truth Table.”
Speaking openly, Pastor Tolu said the separation felt like death.
Between 2021 and 2023, she explained that she had already faced multiple losses — the passing of her father, her stepmother, and her dad’s twin sister — and the end of her marriage came as another painful blow.
She was, however, quick to clarify that her ex-husband wasn’t a bad man. According to her, he was good to her, but if two people are not meant for each other, no matter how much effort is made, it simply won’t work. “If God is not in it, you can’t force it to happen,” she said
Odukoya said: “In the last ten years, I have been separated.
“Many don’t know I am separated.
“That experience has really defined my life.
“It was circumstances beyond my control.
“Sometimes you do not get into marriage to leave a marriage.
“When your marriage is over, it’s a death in a way.
“I would say in the last 10 years, I have experienced a couple of deaths.
“The death of my marriage, the death of my parents, my step mum, and my dad’s twin sister.
“My ex-husband is a great man.
“But I just feel that if God does not ordain two people to be together, and they force themselves, the likelihood of staying together is slim.
“I am a good person and probably not good for him, vice versa.
“To see all that coming to an end shaped my heart.
“That happened in 2021.
“My dad was very broken by that.
“Everybody else died because of sickness.
“When people die of sickness, you see them deteriorate.
“But my mother passed suddenly.
“But when people are ill, you watch them deteriorate.
“Sometimes we pray and we believe because we have prayed that God must answer.
“But God does answer.
“It might just be that it is not the answer you are looking for.
“All those moments defined me.
“It got to a point where I began to ask: why am I serving God?
“Do I serve God because He can do all things and give all things to us?
“Or serve him because He first gave His all for me.
“My life has not been an easy one.
“It has not gone the way I planned.
“I could see where my life was going to go, but what I am experiencing now, I did not see it.
“I tell God every day I am in your hands o.
“When you are not in a marriage anymore, you don’t want to put yourself on the centre stage.
“You don’t want to come and say I am an associate pastor.
“You want to go and hide under a rock.
“I thought I should just figure out my life.
“But when the call came, I told God, you know all the wahala.
“But if you call me to serve, I would trust you enough to walk on water.
“What I have done is to walk on water.
“I have decided to keep my eyes on Jesus.”
Toluwani is the daughter and second child of late Pastors Taiwo and Bimbo Odukoya
